On celebrating and going home

Phillies celebrate, Rays leave disappointed

Here are some of the notable quotes from around Major League Baseball this week:

"What can they say now that we're world champions? Twenty-five years they've waited. I was barely born."

-- Jimmy Rollins, noting that he's not yet 30 years old while the Phillies just won their first championship in 28 years, and the city of Philadelphia got its first since the 76ers won it all in 1983.
(Philadelphia Daily News)

"It's a frustrating thing to go home for the next week or so and sit at home and not have something to do. Everybody had plans of playing tomorrow. I have to think of something to do. I don't know what the heck I'm going to do tomorrow."

-- Cliff Floyd commenting on Rays seeing their season come to an end after losing Game 5 of the World Series to Philadelphia, giving the Phillies a 4-1 series win.
(Tampa Tribune)

"I think right now we just have to take it all in. We lost the World Series -- it's not something to be proud about. But the one good thing about it is that we did have an unbelievable Cinderella season. I think in a couple days we're going to look back and go, man, we did something that nobody in the whole entire universe would have thought we'd have done. We shocked the world when we did that."

--James Shields talking about the just-concluded 2008 season after the Rays fell to Philadelphia 4-3 in Game 5 of the World Series, giving the Phillies a 4-1 series win.
(St. Petersburg Times)

"It's obviously disappointing -- we felt that we had a good enough team to get it done and we came up just a little bit short. What a season to be able to go from worst like that to be in the World Series right here! That is just special."

--Scott Kazmir commenting after the Rays lost Game 5 of the World Series, 4-3, to Philadelphia, giving the Phillies a 4-1 series win and the title.
(St. Petersburg Times)

"It's a good thing he was perfect because this is unbelievable. It was a lot of hard work and it's all for a reason now."

--Ryan Madson on teammate Brad Lidge, who finished the entire season without a blown save, after he closed out the Phillies' Game 5 win on Wednesday night.
(Philadelphia Daily News)

"If Aki had made that play, it would have been a great play, but it didn't happen."

--Joe Madden talking about Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura, who came close to making an-over-the-shoulder catch on a Jayson Werth blooper over a drawn-in infield in the sixth inning, allowing Geoff Jenkins to score from third base with one out and give the Phillies a 3-2 lead in Game 5 of the World Series.
(St. Petersburg Times)

"This is a great situation. I'm even more excited for that guy who's holding the MVP. He deserves it. He's the ace."

--Jamie Moyer, expressing his appreciation for a job well done by teammate and World Series MVP Cole Hamels.
(Philadelphia Daily News)

"We really thought we were going to go back to Tampa. It's kind of tough on us right now. We didn't think we would lose three games straight up here and we really thought we'd make it a better series."

--Carl Crawford after losing Game 5 of the World Series to Philadelphia and losing the series, 4-1, to the Phillies.
(Tampa Tribune)

"It's perfection shared with everybody else in here. Without them, it couldn't happen."

--Brad Lidge, who was quick to credit his teammates after closing out Game 5 of the World Series.
(Philadelphia Daily News)

"I didn't think I'd have a chance to get him at first base, to be honest with you."

--Chase Utley, on the decision to throw home in Game 5 of the World Series in a play that saw him throw out Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett at home instead of trying to make a play at first base on Akinori Iwamura.
(MLB.com)

"I still don't feel anything. It feels like just another win. It feels like we have another game to play tomorrow."

--Shane Victorino, after the Phillies won the World Series on Wednesday night.
(MLBlogs.comi>)

"That's been completely out of my mind up until this point. I love it here, and the team has treated me very well."

--Rocco Baldelli commenting on how he has not started to think about this offseason, one in which he will be a free agent.
(St. Petersburg Times)

"He's been big for us at first base, third base, DH. We've had him play shortstop a couple of nights. He's a switch-hitter who gets big hits. I just really like the guy a lot."

"It was tough to see, tough to feel your fingers, tough to do everything. It was probably the toughest six innings of baseball I've ever had to play."

--Evan Longoria commenting on playing in the bitter cold, wind and rain on Monday night in Game 5 of the World Series in Philadelphia.
(St. Petersburg Times)

"A lot of teams thought he was good, not just the Dodgers. I don't think anybody was thinking he would be the No. 1 pick in the draft three years later."

-- Dodgers assistant general manager/scouting Logan White on Rays phenom David Price, whom the club selected out of high school in the 19th round.
(Los Angeles Times)

"After getting on the bus in front of the fans we just saw, you don't have to tell them much. We got cursed out as much as you can get cursed out in one minute."

--Cliff Floyd on the reception the Rays got from Philadelphia fans when getting on the team bus at the hotel in Philadelphia.
(St. Petersburg Times)

"Beanie showed up with three bags and a box. I don't even know -- that might be like 36-40 hoagies. ... We really have enough to almost feed the entire team. I'm passing them out. They're in the clubhouse right now. She did not let us down."

-- Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon discussing his mother, Beanie, and more than a dozen other relatives, going to Philadelphia and bringing the usual complement of hometown delicacies. Maddon grew up in the Philadelphia area.
(St. Petersburg Times)